Tampa Bay Rays: Why Blake Snell is right to refuse reduced pay in 2020

Tampa Bay Rays star pitcher Blake Snell stirred up some controversy by declaring he wouldn’t play for reduced pay in 2020. Here’s why he’s right.

Tampa Bay Rays‘ ace Blake Snell took to Twitch to do his thing and he’s got the baseball world buzzing from his comment. Snell declared that he would not play in 2020 for a reduced salary under increased risk due to the novel coronavirus, or “Rona” as he so eloquently put it.

If you haven’t read about it, you can do so here.

Fans have taken to their keyboards all over the world to call the players spoiled, compare them to healthcare workers, and express their overall outrage over Snell giving us a peek into the minds of the players.

Millionaires vs. Billionaires?

It’s not billionaires vs. millionaires. This is billionaires vs. a few millionaires and mostly guys making a lot less money. The Major League minimum salary is $563,500 in 2020. That is pro-rated over however many games a player plays. The minimum salary for a player on the 40-man roster is just $46,000.

So a player making the 40-man minimum gets called up for five games then he gets an extra $17,391.98 (before taxes), which is nice, but it’s not rich. It doesn’t make that player a millionaire by any means. These guys have a lot to lose right now.

Precedent

Agreeing to these terms would set a terrible precedent and the union is not going to accept it. I mentioned in a previous article how in 1994, the owners claimed they were losing money and wanted a salary cap. This was where the players drew the line in the sand.

Trevor Bauer called the owner’s proposal to split revenue this season “laughable.”

Players Union executive director Tony Clark said, “A system that restricts player pay based on revenues is a salary cap, period.”

He went on to accuse the owners and the league of attempting to utilize a health crisis as leverage.

This isn’t going to end well.

Spoiled Snell?

If you want to call players spoiled or whiny for their stance on enforcing the standing CBA, then you will only shut them up. We are getting the type of candor and realism that we desire from our ballplayers. It makes them easier to root for to know, not only that they are human beings, but what type of humans they are.

Don’t forget how incredibly difficult it is to get to the major leagues. About ten percent of all NCAA players are drafted into the farm systems, and only 10% of minor leaguers ever touch a big-league field.

Blake Snell is not the only one taking a pay cut this year. Plenty of players whose salaries more closely resemble the fans who call them spoiled millionaires are also in this with him.

They Must Not Love the Game

You don’t make it this far without loving the game. You don’t become one of the best players in the world – the best at each level, grind and work your way to the highest level of baseball in the universe – without loving the game.

These guys live the game in order to get where they are.

Blake Snell is Not a Nurse

They aren’t firefighters, doctors, nurses, police officers, or even Costco or Wal-Mart employees. We do not depend on baseball to survive right now. Granted, we may feel like we do, but we don’t.

I think it’s unfair to compare these players to nurses when Snell is talking about the alteration of the collective bargaining agreement in order to violate it under the premise of a health crisis. Players are talking about risk management in non-essential roles.

Those are my two cents on Blake Snell’s two cents, of course since it’s 2020 we need to pro-rate those over 81 games, then multiply it by .67…. Uh oh! Here come the taxes!

I know everyone has a ton of thoughts and opinions on this. Please feel free to share them here and on our Facebook page.